


In the Face of Adversity

by everlovingdeer



Series: Harry Potter Short Stories [8]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Dolores Umbridge is Her Own Warning, F/M, Fluff, Friends to Lovers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-26
Updated: 2019-08-26
Packaged: 2020-09-27 09:42:29
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 5,497
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20405644
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/everlovingdeer/pseuds/everlovingdeer
Summary: “It’s deeper,” he muttered quietly, looking up at me from below his eyelashes. “She made you reopen a wound that was almost fully closed.”I didn’t answer him. What sort of answer was I supposed to give him? Instead, I let my eyes settle on the fingers that were drifting across my palm. Terry’s fingertips traced the words with the lightest of touches.





	1. In the Face of Adversity

**Author's Note:**

> Pretty much the same as the others - majorly unedited and super old. Originally posted on other sites on 23/11/2013

Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry was a magical place. It was the place I went spent almost nine months of the year in, it was where I felt as if I belonged. Simply put, Hogwarts was home. Arriving at the school five years ago had opened my eyes to a world of literal magic that I had never seen before and had quickly become my haven. Every year since my first was better and better.

Or rather they _had_ been better and better. This year however was a stark disappointment and that was all because of a pink wearing toad that had taken the disguise of the new Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher. Umbitch.

She was a pain, a pain that had made it her personal mission to ruin the year. She had set out to take everything good about the school and eradicate it. She had even ousted Dumbledore from the school. And now the bitch had the audacity to stand above an entire hall full of students that she was inflicting this medieval torture upon as if she had the moral high ground. 

I glared mutinously up at her as she stood smirking evilly down at us. We were all sat, row by row, clutching a quill in our hands. Not just any quill though. A blood quill. We were all being punished for being members of Dumbledore’s Army. We were being punished for being in a club of all things! Here we were, in a school, and we were being punished for _learning_.

The ministry’s paranoia was certainly extreme.

I screwed my eyes shut in pain as I continued to write my lines, the inscription etching itself deeper into my skin with each stroke of my quill. How many more lines did I have left?

If you really gave this entire thing some thought, you’d realise that this was all Umbridge’s fault. The club had been set up for the purpose of learning everything that she refused to teach us. If she had done her job, as a _teacher, _then we wouldn’t have thought it necessary to go behind her back. If she had actually taught us then there would have been no reason for the DA to have been formed. Therefore, this was all her fault.

She gave a small cough, snapping me out of my musings. We all looked up at her, “I believe that will be all for tonight.”

Slowly people started to leave the great hall one by one. I rose from my chair and cast a glance down at my hand. The wound was deep but because it had been magically inflicted it was already beginning to heal. I stretched my hand slightly and whimpered at the pain as I reopened the wound. Letting out a stuttering breath I turned and followed my fellow members of the DA out of the hall. 

I kept my head down as I walked in the direction of the common room. Against my will, I could feel the tears well up in my eyes and no matter how hard I tried to stop them from falling, one did. It raced down my cheek and I raised my uninjured hand quickly to wipe it clean. That woman was _not_ worth it.

Padding up the stairs to Ravenclaw Tower I made my way through the portrait to be greeted with absolute silence. The common room was full but for once there were no whispered words from the first years who were too scared to talk aloud in case they disturbed some of the older students and no raucous conversations from the elder kids either. 

Someone had taken all of the life out of the students and that someone was a toad with a fetish for all things pink. It was as if there was an invisible line keeping the first years away from the older students. They were sat on almost opposite sides of the common room.

The first years were looking at all of us weirdly. But why shouldn’t they have been?

It was definitely a strange sight to see. We were sat, some of us clutching our hands in pain and others glaring seemingly into absolute nothingness. Letting out a small sigh, I winced at a twinge of pain in my left hand and cradled it against my chest. How long would this take to heal properly?

My eyes swept across the common room and landed on a solitary figure who was sitting far away from everyone else. The boy was sat before one of the windows, his back facing the rest of the common room. He turned slowly, to glance at something on his right. Recognising his side profile instantly, I furrowed my eyebrows slightly. 

Terry Boot.

What was he doing on his own? Why was he sitting away from his friends? Terry was, without a doubt, one of the more social members of the entire house. It was incredibly rare to see him on his own. But yet, here he was, isolating himself from everyone else. 

Making my way across the common room I approached him. Placing a gentle hand on his back to get his attention without startling him, I settled down beside him. Dropping my hand from his back I waited for him to turn to face me. 

“Terry, are you alright?”

He looked away from the window and looked at me. He gave me a small smile, erasing the emotionless look previously on his face. A few seconds later he turned back to the window. “Why wouldn’t I be alright?”

I didn’t answer for a while and instead watched as he repeatedly curled and uncurled his hand at his side. Why was he doing that? It would only reopen the wound time and time again.

“Maybe,” I said taking his hand in mine and opening his palm up again. I glanced down at his palm; his wound was much deeper than mine. “Maybe you wouldn’t be alright because of this?”

He gave a sigh and pulled his hand out of mine. I rose to my feet, gesturing for him to do the same. When he made no move to follow me, I took his uninjured hand in mine. Tugging gently at his hand, I watched as he rose uncertainly from his seat. I lead him to my dorm by the hand, ignoring the looks that we were getting form the rest of the house. Opening the door to my dorm, I motioned for him to come in and settle himself onto the bed.

He silently did as asked but remained watching me closely. Sitting beside the front of my bed, I rifled through my trunk. Pulling out two identical vials, I held one out for him to take. He reached over to take it from my outstretched hand.

“What is it?” He asked, pulling the topper off of the vial and giving the potion a cautious sniff. He recognised the scent coming from the potion but I explained anyway.

“It’s a pain potion – all of the girls have our own supplies.”

He nodded and tipped its contents down his throat. Following his lead, I swallowed the potion quickly, grimacing at the taste of it. The effect of the potion was instantaneous.

We sat in silence for a while and I was once again struck by just how unlike himself he was acting. He called my name quietly and I looked up at him. Patting the space beside him on the bed, he motioned for me to get up from the floor and sit beside him. When I was sat beside him, he started to speak. 

“Do you ever feel like it’s useless to fight against people like her?” He asked, not needing to specify who he was talking about.

“No, I don’t,” I said after giving it some thought. He turned to face me curiously waiting for me to finishing answering his question. “If we don’t fight against them then they’ll just continue to dictate us and everything we do until we’re left with nothing.”

“It’s not as if we have to do it alone,” he muttered, “We’ve got the entire DA standing beside us.”

Terry and I spent a long time in my dorm. Even when all my roommates had come up to go to bed, he was still sitting on my bed. We were both sat against my headboard and Terry talked quietly. Eventually, his voice trailed off and I turned to find him, his head dipping as he started to fall asleep. He seemed so peaceful that I didn’t have the heart to wake him up. 

* * *

Now that Umbridge knew the faces of the DA members she took every single opportunity that she could to get us in trouble. It seemed as though I was getting in trouble for the most random things that didn’t seem to abide with even the most ridiculous rules that she had created. I had been given a detention today because I was less than six inches away from a boy. That boy had been the person that she had assigned to sit beside me in Defence against the Dark Arts. Our elbows had brushed once and she had given me detention. 

Of course, the detention had consisted of her favourite method of torture; the blood quill. Once detention was over I made my way back to the common room to find it almost empty. Most of the house was probably in bed by now. 

I was headed towards my dorm when I heard a voice call out my name. Glancing over my shoulder, my eyes landed on Terry who patted the empty spot on the sofa beside him. Walking across the common room towards him, I sat down beside him.

“Why aren’t you in bed yet?” I asked, kicking my shoes off and bringing my feet up onto the sofa.

“I’m not tired yet,” He said with a shrug before pausing. He watched me for a few moments before asking, “I heard that you just had detention with Umbridge. How was it?”

I slowly moved my hand under the folds of my robe to hide it. “It was horrible; the only way that spending time alone with that woman would be.”

He didn’t answer me and I turned to look at him. Following his line of sight, I realised that he was looking at the hand that I was currently hiding. So maybe I hadn’t been as subtle as I had thought I was being. Leaning across me, he gently pulled my hand out from my robe and opened the palm up for his eyes. He sucked in a breath at the sight of the obviously newer wound.

“It’s deeper,” he muttered quietly, looking up at me from below his eyelashes. “She made you reopen a wound that was almost fully closed.”

I didn’t answer him. What sort of answer was I supposed to give him? Instead, I let my eyes settle on the fingers that were drifting across my palm. Terry’s fingertips traced the words with the lightest of touches.

“Does this hurt?” He asked, pushing harder on the skin around the cuts. I glanced up at him and shook my head.

“It doesn’t hurt,” I muttered, glancing down at the hand that he still held in his. “It doesn’t really affect me anymore.”

He went rigid beside me and let out a sigh through his nose. “That’s not right; you shouldn’t have to be used to that pain. You shouldn’t be exposed to so much pain that you become desensitised to it altogether.”

“Terry,” I said gently, placing my free hand on his arm and giving it a squeeze. “With Umbridge in the school, I would have become desensitised to it sooner or later.”

“That’s still not right!” He exclaimed with a shake of his head and I took the opportunity to take my hand back from him. Hiding my hand back under my robe I glanced over at Terry once again. “That woman is a menace. She shouldn’t be a teacher! She’s here to be a representative for the Ministry and if the ministry only knew about the things that she was doing here-”

“Dumbledore will be back in school soon Terry. They can’t keep him away from Hogwarts for no reason and when he’s back Hogwarts will be safe,” I said with a smile. “We just need to have faith in Dumbledore and whilst he’s gone I guess we’ll just have to rely on boy wonder, Potter. It’s no secret that he’s Dumbledore’s favourite.”

“I guess.” It was obvious that he wasn’t convinced. “Let’s not waste any more time talking about this entire mess. Can we please talk about something else?”

“Quidditch?” I suggested quietly, knowing that once I got him started on the topic there was no chance of stopping him. Almost instantly I regretted picking the topic. 

He launched into his favourite topic without even a hint of hesitation. The anger faded slowly from his eyes as I extended my legs across the sofa. Shedding my robe and making myself more comfortable on the sofa I settled in for the night. 

Terry patted his thighs and I gave him a confused look. Apologising in advance, he picked up my legs and set them on his thighs. I went to pull my legs away but he rested his forearms on my legs. 

Something told me that we’d be here the entire night. There was no way I was leaving the common room before the sun rose. 

Thank Merlin tomorrow was Saturday.

* * *

The room was in anarchy and that was an understatement. Everyone was running around to prepare for something that I thought was frankly the most stupid thing that I had ever heard. This plan was essentially like running towards your murderer rather than running _away _from your murderer. 

Merlin, I had a bad feeling about this.

“When I said that we should rely on Potter I didn’t mean that we needed to go along with all of his stupid plans,” I muttered to Terry who was standing beside me. Letting out a shaky breath I turned to look up at him. 

Hearing my words, he turned to look at me and gave me an incredibly amused smile. How could he be so calm in a situation like this! “Everything will be fine, you’ll see.”

“Forgive me if that’s not very reassuring,” I said shoving him with my shoulder. Terry only chuckled, making me even more nervous. Seeing the way I was reacting, he wrapped an arm around my shoulder and gave me a squeeze.

“She’s on her way!” Someone called out making Terry’s words die on his lips. Terry removed his arm and straightened up beside me. 

Never before had four words sent such a chill through my spine. I stiffened, my hand slowly reaching for the wand in my pocket. My hand shook as I pulled out my hand and held it at my side.

A hand reached out for my free hand and gave it a reassuring squeeze. I relaxed significantly as I looked up into Terry’s eyes. Giving me a soft smile he looked back to face the front as all of the members of the DA packed in close together, waiting for the arrival of the toad. Merlin, this had better work. 

* * *

“I can’t believe that she’s finally gone!” Terry exclaimed as we walked out of the castle and towards the quidditch pitch. I rolled my eyes; he had already said that a countless number of times over the last few days. And it seemed like he’d continue to say that.

“Hopefully we never see her again,” I muttered as Terry turned to beam at me, making my heart flutter at the sight of it. 

He dropped back to my side and reached out to take my hand. I glanced down at our linked hands and then back up at him. He was already looking at me, waiting for me to say something. I turned back to the front and continued walking. 

I saw him grin from the corner of my eye as he shifted his broom to hang over his shoulder. We walked in a comfortable silence as the quidditch pitch drew closer. When we entered the pitch, I turned to climb up the stands. 

Terry could wear himself out on the pitch and I’d just curl up with a book and entertain myself. Truthfully I didn’t really want to be here, heck Terry had even asked me to accompany him in front of his quidditch loving friends. If he really wanted to play quidditch then he could have just as easily asked them to join him. 

Terry reached out and caught my hand to stop me from walking up the stairs. I looked back at him and saw him pat the space in front of him on the broom with his free hand.

“Come on,” he said, letting go of my hand.

“No way,” I said giving him a look and crossing my arms. “I didn’t come out here to go flying.”

“So you’re telling me that you came out here to just – what? To watch me fly?”

“I didn’t come out here because I wanted to, Terry.” I rolled my eyes at him. “I came out here because you whined and pouted that no one would go flying with you. Despite the fact that your equally quidditch obsessed friends volunteered to come with you.”

“So you’re just going to stay in the stand?” At my nod, he let out a small laugh, “Give me one, single, valid reason why you don’t want to go flying.”

“I can’t ride a broom,” I muttered quietly glancing away from him. My admission was embarrassing. 

“I’m sorry I didn’t quite catch that. What did you say?” He was obviously amused, having heard perfectly what I had said to him.

I rolled my eyes and repeated in a louder voice, “I can’t ride a broom.”

“We were taught how to in first year-”

“And that was the only class I didn’t do well in that year.”

“Let me teach you now then,” he offered, outstretching a hand for me to take. I shook my head and stepped away from him.

“No. It’s unnatural alright?” I said defensively. “I’m muggleborn so forgive me if I’m not particularly comfortable dangling thousands of metres off of the ground with a ruddy stick between my legs.”

“And yet you’re willing to fly thousands of metres in the sky in a metal death trap?” He questioned with a raised eyebrow. 

I furrowed my eyebrows in confusion, “Are you talking about an aeroplane?”

“Yes, I am.” He reached out for my hand again to pull me back to him and his broom. I swatted his hand away. “If you ask me a broom is much safer than one of those. For one thing; you’re the one in control on a broom, not some pilot whose face you’ve never even seen before.”

“Terry-”

He cut me off. “Do you trust me?” 

I nodded and he held out his hand again. He looked up into my eyes and motioned for me to take it. Taking my bottom lip between my teeth I put my hand in his. Closing the space between us, I let him manoeuvre me so that I was positioned in front of him on the broom. His arms came around me to hold onto the broom. I felt a flush rise at the close proximity but I kept it down. He’d only tease me about it when he got the chance to. Besides I had more important things to worry about right now; like not dying.

“Ready?” He asked gently, setting his chin on my shoulder. I shook my head and squeezed my eyes tight, expecting him to take off quickly. He removed his chin from my shoulder. “Hold on tight.”

“To what?” I muttered under my breath making him laugh. 

“To the broom or to me.” I felt him shrug from behind me. “Whatever takes your fancy. Now be prepared, I’m going to kick off.”

I nodded once and felt him kick off from the ground. We stayed in the same place, hovering for what must have been five minutes. Terry shifted behind me to alter his posture. He pressed his chest closer to my back and I felt my heart race but still refused to open my eyes.

Pressing closer to me, he lowered his stance on the broom and I felt his arms move around me to pull the handle up towards him. There was a sudden upwards pressure and I pressed further back against him for security. The upwards incline stopped suddenly and we were level once again, flying slowly through the air. 

“Open your eyes,” He whispered, setting his chin onto my shoulder once again.

“I don’t want to,” I muttered, shaking my head quickly.

“Come on.” His arms tightened around me and I took in deep breaths to steady my fear. “Please? You’re missing an amazing view.”

Letting out a small sigh I opened my eyes and immediately glanced down. I was hit by a wave of vertigo. Screwing my eyes shut almost instantly I leaned back into Terry. I needed to plant my feet back on the ground to feel sake again.

He let out an affectionate laugh at my actions, burying his head in the side of my neck. “Open your eyes but don’t look down.”

“You should have said that earlier,” I muttered before I risked opening my eyes again. 

I glanced around as we flew, making sure not to look down. Letting out an unconscious gasp I admired Hogwarts in all of its beauty. The lights from the castle glistened in the night sky as the moon bathed it in the moonlight. Why had I not seen this before?

“It’s beautiful, isn’t it?” He asked and I nodded, my hands taking a hold of the broom in front of me as I tried to get a closer look. 

“It looks, for lack of a better word, magical,” I muttered, leaning forward even more.

Hands took hold of my waist and pulled me back against a chest. I looked down. Terry had taken his hands off of the broom. 

“Be careful,” he chastised, still not removing his hands. I used it as an excuse to slump against his chest. His arms only moved to wrap around my waist from behind and I couldn’t bring myself to worry about the fact that no one was currently holding the broom. 

We hovered in the air, watching the view for a few minutes until he broke the silence with a gentle call of my name. I hummed in response.

“Should we head back to the castle?”

“I don’t want to – not yet.”

“If you think Hogwarts is beautiful like this then you should see Hogsmeade as well. Are you up for more flying?”

I glanced back at him from over my shoulder, “Won’t we get into trouble if we get caught?”

“We’ve broken so many rules this year, why worry about breaking one more?”

“That’s a dangerous mentally,” I muttered as he removed his arms from around my waist and assumed his previous position to take control of the broom.

“Well, it’s your decision; back to the castle or to Hogsmeade?”

I felt a smile grow on my face, “Let’s go to Hogsmeade.”

* * *

This year had been the most eventful year since I had joined the school and yet I couldn’t tell my parents about most of it. If I gave them even an inkling of what had happened this year then they’d pull me out of the school without even a second’s thought to what they were ripping me away from.

No, I’d have to keep the secret to myself and the rest of the school. The train station came into view and everyone in the carriage started to get ready. 

“Hey,” Terry said from beside me, making me straighten up from where I had been leaning against his shoulder, “We’re here.”

I stood from my seat, pointedly ignoring the suggestive look my friend was giving me as she looked between Terry and me. Reaching up to pull my bag down from the overhead carrier I flinched when a hand swatted mine away. Terry reached for my trunk instead.

“Let me get that for you.” He took a hold of both the handle and pulled it out of the overhead carrier. Setting it onto the ground in front of me, he gave me a disarming smile. “Knowing you like I do, you’d probably drop it on your head.”

“That was sweet for a fraction of a second,” I said as people began to file out of the carriage to leave the train.

“Hey wait,” he called out as I turned to leave the carriage.

Sneaking around me, he blocked the doorway of the carriage. Looking up at him with a raised eyebrow, I saw him lift a hand to rub at the back of his neck nervously. 

“Terry?”

“So, I guess I’ll see you next year then.”

“Of course.” Again he looked around the carriage as if he was grasping for the right words to say. I gave him a worried look; this was seriously not like the Terry Boot that I knew. Seeing the way that I was looking at him, he looked away from me. “Seriously Terry, whatever it is that you want to say to me you can go ahead and just say it.”

“Next year, on the first Hogsmeade trip, would you go with me?” He met my eyes briefly only to look away from me again. “Hypothetically that is.”

I smiled; he was adorable. “Yes.” He grinned and met my eyes properly this time. “But then again, this is all hypothetical isn’t it?”

His grin faded before he stepped closer to me. I craned my head to look up at him. “And if this wasn’t hypothetical?”

He was watching me in anticipation. Some part of me just wanted to prolong this because this uncertain version of Terry was just adorable and another part of me was worried to prolong it in case he took my hesitation the wrong way. 

He called my name gently to snap me out of my thoughts. “So?”

“So,” I said drawing out the word to slightly, “If this wasn’t all hypothetical then I would have to say yes.”

“Good.” He said, looking visibly pleased with himself before he dropped his head down to press a quick kiss to my cheek. “Have a good summer holiday.” Straightening up he turned to leave the carriage and stopped once more to look back at me. “If you don’t owl me at least once a week over the holiday then I’ll floo to your house and abduct you.”

“I’m muggleborn remember? My fireplace isn’t connected to the floo network.”

“Trust me, I’d find a way.” 


	2. Epilogue: 9 Years Later

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “He likes me the best?” Terry repeated.
> 
> “I guess you could put it that way,” I admitted. “I mean, he complains about you the least.”
> 
> Terry grinned widely. “He likes me the best.”

_9 YEARS LATER_

Every year my parents threw a family Christmas party and every year it was, without fail, the most stressful day of my life. It was the only time of year where Terry came into contact with the majority of my muggle family and whilst Terry knew better than to reveal the existence of magic, he couldn’t help the occasional slip up when presented with something so entirely muggle that he had no idea what it was. 

Every year I tried to convince him not to come but every year he’d remind me that my mother wanted her future son-in-law to be presented. He’d even remind me that once we _were _married, they would be his family as well. I just thought he was trying to win brownie points with my father. 

But, nevertheless, because of Terry’s insistence on coming along, I found myself standing in front of the fireplace waiting for Terry to arrive. Getting the fireplace linked to the floo network had been one of the first things Terry sorted out when we left Hogwarts and he used it often to visit. The fireplace came to life and Terry stepped out of it, wiping soot away from him.

I cast a quick scourgify on him before stepping into his open arms. His arms wrapped around my waist, squeezing me tight.

“I hate waking up and not having you beside me,” he muttered, burrowing his head into my neck. 

“You always say that,” I replied, pulling away slightly to look up at him with a smile. 

“Maybe it’s a hint, telling you to never spend the night away from me?”

“Boot!” Terry stiffened, pushing himself away from me roughly at my father’s voice. 

I bit the inside of my cheek to try and hide my smile when Terry turned to face my dad. Dad was standing in the doorway, eyeing Terry with disdain. Stepping forward to greet my dad, Terry threw me a look, silently telling me to save him when Dad wasn’t looking. 

“Dad you should go and help mum,” I said coming up from behind them both. I stood between the pair of them, looking up at dad, “I’m going to help Terry get settled in – we’ll be back in ten minutes.”

“The guest bedroom’s already been set up.” Dad crossed his arms over his chest, silently daring Terry to protest.

“Leave him alone,” Mum said, walking into the room. She patted Dad’s arm, “We agreed that he’d share her room.”

“Dianne,” Dad whines, turning to face Mum, only to trail off at the sight of her death glare. 

The silent conversation between my parents continued and I ushered Terry out of the room and up the stairs. Once we were in my old bedroom, Terry took out his miniature luggage from his pocket and threw it on the bed, returning it to its real size with the wave of his wand. He then threw himself down on the bed, staring up at me. 

“Why does your dad still hate me?” He sat up, patting the space next to him for me to sit down. When I was sitting next to him, he leaned his head against my shoulder. “We’ve been engaged for 2 years already.”

“Maybe it has something to do with you not asking for his permission to marry me?”

“I told you already,” he whined, “I had no idea that was a muggle custom – wizards don’t see the need to do that.”

“I’m sure he’ll end up liking you eventually Terry. But Mum’s fighting you’re corner constantly, you know how much she likes you.”

“I’m her favourite son-in-law,” he said with a smile, straightening up again. “Despite not even officially being one yet.”

“Speaking of son-in-law’s,” I said standing up and facing him. “My brothers-in-law are supposed to be arriving later today and so, you know the drill, don’t let on about anything magical.”

“It’s like you have no trust in me,” he complained, coming up behind me. Wrapping his arms around me, he hugged me from behind. “Merlin, I missed you.”

I turned to face him, putting my arms around his neck. “I’ve only been gone for a week.”

“A week too long,” he muttered, putting his forehead to mine. 

“I’ve missed you too,” I admitted, leaning up on my toes to press a kiss to his lips. 

Terry smiled against my lips, moving a hand from my waist to the back of my neck. He pulled me closer to him, deepening the kiss. Running my fingers through the hair at the back of his neck, I fitted myself against him.

“What the hell do you think you’re doing?” A voice demanded. 

I pulled away from Terry like I’d been shocked. Terry screwed his eyes shut, muttering curses under his breath as I turned to face Dad who was standing in the open doorway.

“Dad,” I said weakly as he walked into the room. 

He gestured for me to step away from Terry and I seriously considered leaving Terry at the mercy of my dad but he’d chew him apart. I stood next to Terry, who only gestured for me to step away. Moving away from Terry I watched as Dad stepped towards him. 

“Listen to me, young man,” Dad said, glaring up at Terry. “Just because I like you the best out of all my daughter’s significant others, doesn’t mean that I’m going to let you get away with anything. Is that understood?”

Terry nodded, eyes wide as Dad walked out of the room. He watched the empty doorway for a while before looking at me with still wide eyes.

“He likes me the best?” Terry repeated.

“I guess you could put it that way,” I admitted. “I mean, he complains about you the least.”

Terry grinned widely. “He likes me the best.”

I smiled, taking his hand to pull him out of the room. “Come along, Boot, let’s not keep your soon-to-be best friend waiting.”


End file.
